Pentagon: Initial Air Strikes Successful

December 18, 1998|BY MICHAEL KILIAN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — As U.S. warplanes and cruise missiles pounded Iraqi targets for the second night, the Pentagon on Thursday declared its Operation Desert Fox a success, though some strikes appeared more effective than others.

The U.S. assault, led by the Navy's sea-launched cruise missiles, was strengthened with more powerful air-launched cruise missiles fired from B-52s over the northern Persian Gulf.

At least 50 Iraqi targets were hit in Wednesday's first wave of strikes. Those were delivered by more than 200 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from a fleet of 15 U.S. warships in the Gulf, and by about 70 Navy and Marine Corps carrier-based fighters and fighter bombers, Pentagon officials said.

Among the Iraqi sites reported destroyed or hit hard on the first night were the military intelligence headquarters in Baghdad, and the headquarters and four of the five barracks buildings in the capital used by the elite Special Republican Guards.

Both are linked to Iraq's past efforts to obstruct U.N. weapons inspectors. Military intelligence personnel spied on the inspectors and were involved in deceptive activities to frustrate them, according to U.N. officials.

The Special Republican Guards are responsible for protecting Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction.

All U.S. aircraft and crews returned safely from the first round of raids, Defense Secretary William Cohen said. He said there were no confirmed reports available on the number of Iraqi civilian casualties.

Speaking at a Pentagon damage-assessment briefing on Thursday afternoon, Cohen said U.S. forces in the Gulf were "performing well" and "achieving good coverage of our targets."

"Our targets include Iraq's air-defense system, its command and control system, airfields and other military infrastructure and facilities," Cohen said. "One thing should be absolutely clear: We are concentrating on military targets. We are not attacking the people of Iraq. And we have no desire to increase the suffering that Saddam Hussein has imposed on his people."

Cohen said the raids would continue until the United States achieves its objective, though it remained "sensitive" to the fact that the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts this weekend.

"We are advancing our goal of containing Saddam Hussein," Cohen said. "We're diminishing his ability to attack his neighbors, either conventionally or with weapons of mass destruction."

Joining Cohen at the briefing, Gen. Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the initial attacks were concentrated on sites that were thought to be linked to weapons of mass destruction.

Shelton displayed "before" and "after" photographs of the intelligence headquarters and the Special Republican Guard compound, showing extensive damage.

"We have a considerable amount of data coming back in," he said. "Much of it is as successful or more successful than this was; some of it not quite as successful."

He acknowledged that the Special Republican Guards might have had enough warning of an attack to have left the barracks before U.S. warheads hit.

According to news accounts from Baghdad, some cruise missiles may have gone astray. Iraqi officials said one hit a food warehouse in Tikrit, Hussein's hometown 120 miles north of Baghdad, and another blew a crater in a Baghdad street.

There were reports of one missile hitting the residence of Hussein's daughter Hala, but Iraqi authorities said she was not home at the time.

Cohen and Shelton emphasized that the aerial campaign is intended to contain Hussein, not kill him or bring about his overthrow. But Shelton said if the attacks helped destabilize Hussein's regime, that would be "value added."